


Nothing Could Touch Us

by watermelonriddles



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-11
Updated: 2017-12-11
Packaged: 2019-02-13 09:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12980784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/watermelonriddles/pseuds/watermelonriddles
Summary: Set during 2x08. After Alice says she can't stay in the Serpent den and walks out, she and FP end up having a discussion about their past and why Alice was so eager to leave the den that she would do so without Betty.





	Nothing Could Touch Us

**Author's Note:**

> This is a mess but I love this ship and I just had to write something.

It was once she was outside that Alice could finally breathe. She rubbed her chest, over the spot where her heart was, hoping to ease the ache. It was impossible to calm down. She couldn’t stop the tears that ran down her cheeks. Alice knew she had to get out of there, but she couldn’t bring herself to drive, where would she go? She couldn’t go home. What would Hal say if she came home dressed like she was, makeup ruined, the smell of alcohol and smoke on her?

Wiping at her eyes, she made her way around the side of the building. It was secluded and she was able to lean back against the nearest wall. Already it was a little easier to breathe. Without the people or the lights, it felt like she was really alone. It made it easier to forget. At least until she heard footsteps.

“Running out already?”

She looked up to see FP. He came round to stand across from her. Alice hoped she was in shadow, she couldn’t imagine what she must look like.  
  
“Just came out for some fresh air.”  
  
FP nodded, but it was the way he tilted his head ever so slightly to the side that told Alice that he didn’t believe a word she said. When he took a step forward, she wished she was able to take a step back, instead, she turned her head away.

“I’m surprised you left without Betty,” he said. “Especially after that performance.”

Alice opened her mouth to bite back, but closed it again without speaking. She took a deep breath. “I couldn’t be in there.” Finally, she stepped towards FP, stopping just in front of him.  


His face softened when he caught sight of her. “Why not?”

His voice was so soft it sent shivers down Alice’s spine and assaulted her mind with flashes of memories. She shook them off as best as she could but they wouldn’t stop. It brought that ache in her chest back ten fold.

FP reached out for her but she pulled away from him. “You all let me down. And the fact that none of you have ever said or done anything to me, despite all of the horrible things I’ve said over the years, proves that none of you realise what you did.”

“Serpents look after their own.”

Alice looked him dead in the eye. The only thing she could feel now was anger. “Then where were you?”

“We-”

“No, FP, _you._ ” She couldn’t stop herself from yelling now. “At the very least I expected you to be there, but you weren’t. Not when I got into trouble, not when they dragged me away from the Southside. The Serpents knew I didn’t want to go but none of you helped me. I’m guessing no one retaliated because I didn’t deliberately walk away.”  
  
“You’re a Serpent for life, Alice,” he said without missing a beat. “I left for the army and I came right back again.”  
  
“Difference is that you chose to leave.” She looked down as she began to cry again. “Why didn’t _you_ come for me?”

He frowned. “Th- That’s why you’re so angry?”

“Did you ever wonder why I’m so obsessed with having the perfect family?”

“I had a few theories…”

“It’s because if my so-called family was going to leave me stranded somewhere, then I was going to make my own family, one that was the complete opposite.” She took a deep breath. “One that wouldn’t remind me of… Before.”

“I saw you in there,” he said, motioning to the building. “You clicked right back in. You belong here.”

“I stopped belonging here the moment I realised you weren’t coming to get me.”

“Why me? Why does this fall down to me?”

“Because you were the one, FP. You were the only one that knew how afraid I was when I first became apart of that world. It was you that I drove around with for hours when I didn't want to go home. No one else knew that I still slept with the same teddy bear I had when I was baby. It was you, FP, that knew me better than anyone else. It was the two of us, nothing could touch us, and then… I was alone.”

He threw his hands up in the air in frustration. “What was I supposed to do? Just go over and bring you back and… what? Hope no one came looking for you?”

“Yes! You should have at least tried.”

“What about Betty? Polly?” he challenged. “If you had stayed here, you wouldn’t have them.”  
  
“I love those girls,” Alice bit back. “They’re my world.”  
  
“Then where is this all coming from?”  
  
“None of this is new. I’d made a life for myself, hidden my past from everyone I could, prevented it from coming up again. I did it all deliberately because I couldn’t dwell, it would have ripped me to shreds. But then my Betty had to go and fall in love with Jughead.”

FP sighed and pushed his hands into his pockets. “And then our lives were pulled back together.”

“And with everything else going on in town, that world I’d built began to crumble and my old one came back piece by piece. Seeing Betty up on that stage… I couldn’t be there for that.”

“I never asked you to…”  
  
“And I bet Jughead never asked Betty.” She wiped at her eyes. “I became apart of this world because I wanted to, but you… You were a big motivation. I couldn’t be in it without you, but by the time I was able to get back on my own I realised I couldn’t be in it with you either.”

“Your old life may be coming back with a vengeance, but it feels good, right?” He looked her up and down. “That old skin fits like a glove, doesn’t it?”  
  
“This world, our world, is ancient history.”

“Says who?” He walked towards her with such determination that she had no choice to step back again until her back hit the wall. He stopped in front of her which just enough space between them. “We’re not kids anymore, Alice. The only person that’s stopping you from coming back is you.”

“I hate you,” she said, voice barely above a whisper. “I’ve hated you for so long.”

He moved forward ever so slightly, closing the gap between them, and pressed his forehead against hers. “It was always you and me, right? So I know that that’s not true.”  
  
“I need it to be true,” she whispered.  
  
FP leaned down and kissed her cheek and then the corner of her mouth before pulling away completely. “If you need it to be true then leave. Only this time, make it final. I may not be the best father but I do know my son. There’s no way he’ll let Betty into this world. So if you leave, I promise, you’re not leaving anything you care about behind.”  
  
He walked away then, leaving Alice to herself. She thought over his words, thought about whether she should come back or walk away. Despite all those years that had passed, she couldn’t bring herself to do the latter, but if she was going to come back she would need a reason to. It was then that she realised that FP was right. She didn’t hate him, not really.  
  
Even if Betty did leave Alice would still be leaving someone she cared about behind. For a long time now she had convinced herself that she was okay, that she had buried her past, but now it was becoming apparent that that wasn’t true at all.  
  
There were feelings in Alice that had been brought dramatically back to life. She might not have chosen to leave when she was younger, but she could certainly choose to go back, and why shouldn’t she? The more Alice thought about it, the more it just made sense. The idea made her feel more alive than she had felt in a long time, so alive that without hesitation she headed back inside, ready to really face her past head-on.


End file.
